Continuous feed primary battery system



Feb. 16, 1960 S..E|DENSOHN ETAL CONTINUOUS FEED PRIMARY BATTERY SYSTEMFiled Dec. 18, 1956 INVENTORS SAMUEL EIDENSOHN LEO GOLDENBERG ATTORNEYSmmd 51m tenrQ F 2,925,455 I CONTINUOUS FEED PRIMARY BATTERY SYSTEMSamuel Eidensohn, Washington,'D.C., andLeo Goldenbe'rg, Silver Spring,Md. 7 Application December 18-, 1956, Serial No.'629,-199

11 Claims. Cl. 136-86) 7 (Granted under m. as, U.s.-coae 1952 sec. 266)a two stage primary battery system'wherein the chemical products of thefirst stageare'iitiliz'ed in thesecond stage asa reactant; andspecificallytoa twolstageprimary battery 'system. having-.'means .inlthefirst sta supplies the anode reactant fon gb'oth stages. I

Primary. batteries of the prior' are single srages s, temS, and;amngthem are. those wherein a sacrificial anode is employed or wher'eintwogases, e.g. hydrogen V ten'r' ofthe invention.

P 9Y I x "Otherobjeets and many of the attendan-t'advantages of thisinvention will be readily appreciated as the same becom'esfbetterunderstood by reference" to the following'details and" descriptions whenconsidered ingconnec- I tio n withthe accompanying'drawings 'in whic Fig.;l is 'anoverall; plan view, partial;ly andiagram matic cro ss section,offthe twostage primary battery sys- Fi is a schemati diagram showing aseries cone nection. between the two stages, whereby'their electricaloutputs are combined.

' Referringnow to the drawings, wherein like reference charactersdesignate like or corresponding. parts throughout the several views,there is shown in Fig. 1 a first stage primary battery, generallydesignated by reference. It

functionally and electrically connected '(Fig. 2') to 'a" I second stageprimary'battery, generally designated -12.

, T first age l s se a plu a ty. f will: 13in) a casing 14ofanys'uitableshape and composedfo any.

a suitable insulating material such as] hard rubber. Each or the cells13 comprises a chemically inert. cathode 15. andfstronglyelectiopositivemetal anode 16. f In; a specific I I 'which may be';de-ii-, pos e :a ilat um.; al s )j e w ss L d. ma esium 1 anodes areernployed, thoughaluminumor alloys of the two metals are also, suitable asl ano desgjand'oxygen, are electrochemically reacted. The former suffersthe.disadvantagegof poor efficiency in that the ,chemicalproducts ofthe; electrochemical reaction ar'e' dissipated and wasted.Thelattergenerally requireplant installations of excessive weight due tothe needfor stor ing the reactant gases under pressure in heavy'containers.

In the'instant invention a first stage is provided wherein theelectrochemical reaction of an active; metal-with water-continuouslygenerates electrical energy, andiat the same time generates a: gas which,is used as a reactant in a second stage to produce additionalelectrical energy; m I

Briefly then, this invention is d rected to a process and apparatus fora continuous-feed twostage primary han tery system for the derivation ofelectrical energy-both fromthe electrochemical reaction of a. stronglyelectr'o I positive .metal'in a first stage and fromtheelectrochemicalreaction of the gaseous prodnctsthereof in a seco ndstagewith: agas suppliedto the second stage. In efiect it is. the anodereactant of the first stage which ,electro-.

chemically. reacts with the cathode reactant or the second stage toproduce electrical energy.

An object therefore is to provide a conti two stage primary batterysystem..-

Another object of .the invention is theprmg is on.of, a two stageprimary battery system wherein the anode reactant of the first; stagealso supplies theanodic reactant for thesecond stage. 7

Another ohjectjistheprovisionof a;two stage?p rimary vbatter'yzsystemwherein electrical energy is derived frgm bothstages. 7

' Still another object of-the invention is the provision 1 "of atwostage primary hattery systelrigwhereinthegaseous 7 products of'the'electrochemical reaction of theianddic Ymaterial in the firststagefareemployed.. as the anodic reactant in the-second stage;

mbo im ntij bon ra it ash " Th asi 'al iin e isinT f 17 and outletconduits are inserted in fiuid tight rela tionship'therewith. An'j'inletmain19, having. thereinia driven circulating pump 20," and an outletmain 21 are connected to} inlet andgoutlet mamas wand 18 wherebyanelec'trolyte may be circulated; continuously ori'nter-L,'mitt'entlyythroughleach of thejc'ells 13 m sagelm. 'In, "a specific embdimentQsea" water'has been found suitable as an electrolyte, Each of thecarbon cathodes 15 isconnected to a positive" terminal '22 se'aledin'the wall 'of' 'casing 14 in conventional m'annen {The magnesium anodes16 in each cell are-fed at; speeds 'propo'rtionahto current requirementsfromsheet rolls 23 through suitable fiuidtight glands' 24 under controlof 1 a; DC. motor '25 or the like. Electrical terminal i connections1 27from themagn'esium anodes 16 are made through brushes 26] Ql'thelike. iAs is understood, whenterminals 22 and 27 connected 7 to thecarboncathodes 15 and magnesium anodesj 16 re-, spectively', areexternally connected, and the, electrolyte is circulated through eachcell 13, the 'magnesiumanode a ts-fet d I r will react with theeleetrolyt'eto liberate electrons, there by causing a current to flow inthe exterrialfcircuit," and is dissipated in the' prior-art batteries.

to liberate hydrogen gas. It is this hydrogen'gas As seen in'Fig. 1, thehydrogen gas pro'duced'in each cell -13 .is directed through outlet"conduits 28to a @AA, iurthe'r object of me invention is ,the provision f'of angeflicientprimary battery system wherein anclectroa 7 positivemetal is reactedfwith axgas to generate useful telecn'ical e'nergw x fstill' turthe'r object of lthe." invention; is. -tlie, provision anaccumulator 3 1. j V

V 12 comprises essentially,aplurality of hydrogen-oxygen continuous feedprimary'battei y'cells hydrogen line 2.9, compressed in a compressor '30and fed v 7 p n i hydrogen may be fed. directly to'thens'econd stage,or}.

alternatively after compression, fed to ,the'second stage 7 at a uniformjcontrolled. rate 'frorn 'transitory storage in i to thesecond stageprimary battery 12 in the system. The

The second stage '32, thenature and operationof which areknown tojtjheart and which: perso do not form partof)theIinstant}v invention;Briefly, however, the second stage compris o a steel-casing-3;3,cylindric'al ih'f shape; divideclf'into' a pl'ii rality of compartments;hydrogen compartments134,elec V I trolyteyeompartrnents.135, andoxygencompartments 36,, 1 a

Patented 1 6, 1960 of a process for deriving direct current electricalenergy, whereby maximum use is' made of; the materials em I I f the'cells is permuted PPQ i side w ereby, inlet, conduit The walls -37 ofsaid plurality of compartments are discs and, except for the ends of thecylindrical casing 33, are composed of a porous chemically inert metal,preferably nickel. The peripheral edges 38 of the circular walls ordiscs are non-porous and are held in gas and fluid tight relationship bythe cylindrical walls of the steel casing 33. The sides of the walls 37facing the electrolyte compartments 35 are insulated from the steelcasing 33, as by insulation 39, whereby the hydrogen anodes and oxygencathodes or compartments 34 and 36 are insulated from one another. It isunderstood that the casing sections abutting walls 37 are suitablysecured together as by insulated bolts or, the like; not shown.

As seen in Fig. 1 hydrogen under pressure from line 29 enterscompartments 34 through hydrogen inlets '42 connected between line 29and the compartments. An electrolyte entersand leaves compartments 35via inlet conduits 43 and outlet conduits 44, connected respectively toan electrolyte inlet main 45 and outlet main 46. Inlet main 45 isfurther provided with a driven circulating pump 47 whereby theelectrolyte, preferably sea water or the like is continuously renewed inthe cells 32. As further seen in Fig. 1, oxygen enters the compartments36 under pressure through inlets 48 connected to an oxygenrnain 49containing a driven compressor 50. In a specific embodiment shown,atmospheric air is fed into compartments 36, the oxygen content thereofbeing'sufficient for the reaction. Positive and negative terminals 51and are electrically secured to the steel'casing 33, housing thehydrogen and oxygen compartments respectively, whereby the electricalenergy generated by the electrochemical combination of the gases may betapped.

In operation, hydrogen and electrical energy are produced in the firststage through the electrochemical reaction between the magnesium anodes16, electrolyte and carbon cathodes 15. Hydrogen is alsoproduced throughlocal reaction or self-discharge of some quantity (y)M of the activemetal with the water of the electrolyt e. The electricaloutput of thelocal reaction is zero, since it is converted into heat in what can beconsidered a short circuited electrochemical reaction. The hydrogenliberated by this local eaction is collected together with thatliberated from the main electrochemical reaction for common handlingthereafter. Theoverall reaction-for the first stage then, can beexpressed as:

M is the electropo'sitive metal employed and n is its valance.

'y is the ratio of the amount of active metal taking part in the localreaction to the amount of active metal taking part 'in the mainelectrochemical reaction.

E is the voltage produced per cell.

F is the value of the Faraday (96,494 coulombs).

The hydrogen produced in the first stage is oxidized anodically to thehydrogen ion in the second stage 12 and subsequently reacted in theelectrolyte therein through the mechanism of the porous walls 37 to formwater with the hydroxyl ion produced in the electrolyte by the cathodicreduction of the oxygen fed to the stage 12. The above reaction takesplace as described in British Patent 667,298 (1952) and electricalenergy is generated. The overall reaction for the second stage thereforemay be stated:

Wi1eTB E is the voltage produced. The actual overall reaction for bothstages is then:

Thus on the premise of equal. numbers of first and second stage cells,it is seen that, for an overall expenditure per first stage cell of(1+y) gram-mols of the active metal of valence n,

(1 +-y).( mols of water and i i (H-13(3) mols of oxygen covering boththe electrochemical and local reactions, a quantity of n Faradays ofelectricity would be transferred in the first stage cell and (l+y).(n)Faradays in the corresponding second stage cell. The respective totalcurrents delivered by the cells of each type would be in the ratio of nto (n).(l+y), or l to (1+y)- However on the premise of equal currentsper cell, the number of cells in the first and second stages,respectively, would perforce, be in'the ratio of l to (1+y) I Using thelatter premise, operation of the first and second stages inseries,-electrically, may be effected by utilizingall the cells in boththe first and second stages in series with one another, as shown in Fig.'2. Thus, a physical plant in which the first-stage group comprises Ncells, into which equal numbers of chemical equivalents of the activemetal are fed, respectively, hasfa secondstage group comprising N(l+y),or (N +Ny) cells, into which equal numbers of'chemical equivalents ofthe hydrogen product of the first-stage reaction are fed, respectively.The total number of cells in series is'there fore 2N+N v, with theproduct Ny being anjinteger. Fig. 2 shows a series connection inaccordance with the above equation having 3 cells in the first-stageiand5 in the second stage.

Further, in accordance with the invention,'the rates of feed of theactive metal, electrolytes, oxygen and hydrogen may be proportionatelycontrolled in accordance with the current drawn by a load 60 connectedacross the system terminals (Fig. 2) by placing the field coils 61 ofDO. motors, e.g. 25 and the circulating pumpand compressor motors, inseries with the loadwhereby the speeds thereof can be variedaccordingly. Circulation of the electrolyte in the first-stage alsorernovesdhe anodic corrosion products, namely the metal hydroxide, notonly from the surface of the anode, but also from the cell itself,through entrainment of thehydroxide. by the electrolyte in the form of asuspensio'rn- Alternatively, the first stage electrolyte may beregenerated by separating the metal hydroxide externally of the celleither by filtering or centrifuging and by adding water to the same inthe amount of n molecular weight units per weight unit of the activemetal.

In the above described system then, each stage is in itself a completeprimary battery system from the viewpoint of electrical powergeneration.- However the anodic and cathodic reacting materials, whichmay besupplied continuously at a controlled rate or intermittently asnecessary are fed intothe anode compartment of the first-stage and thecathode compartment of the secondstage. Thus, not only is a safelyoperable vprocess pro vided whereby an active metal maybe reactedwithoxygen or atmospheric air but the energy, efliciency is also higherthan would be obtained by the .direct electrochemical reaction of themetal with oxygen ;-and water in a conventional single stage battery.Thi'simprovement in efiiciency is accomplished by virtue of the factthat, in effect substantially all the active metal takes part in theelectrochemical reaction and in the case 'of mag- .nesium theimprovementin material utilization can be as high as 66% over alternate methods.

Obviously many modifications and variation'sof the present invention arepossible in the light of the'above teachings. -It is therefore .to beunderstood thatwithin the scope of the appended claims the invention maybe practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is: 1

1. A method of generatinguseful electrical energy in a two stage primarybattery system which comprises, reacting a strongly electropositivesacrifical metal anode with an aqueous electrolyte in the presence of achemically inert cathode in a first stage of the system, to therebygenerate electrical energy and liberate a reactant gas, I

conveying the hydrogen'yg'as from the first stage of the system to a'second stage thereof,electrochemically reacting the hydrogen gas fromthe'gfirst stage as the anode 1 with oxygen as the cathode injanlectrolyte in the second stage to thereby generate; electrical energy inthe second stage, and tapping electrical; energy ffrom each of thestages. i

2. A method of generating electrical energy in a two hydrogen isliberated, and a second stage of thetype wherein electrical energy isgenerated by electrochemical reaction .of two gases, means for conveyingto the second i 7 'stage hydrogen liberated in the first stage forelectrochemical reaction with oxygen in such second stage, and

means fortapping electrical energy, from each of the two stages.

,6. A two stage primary battery system as set forth in claim 5 whereinthe first stage includes a first casing 3 containing an electrolyte, ananode and a cathode, means for supplying a hydrogen-containingelectrolyte to said casing and means for supplying to the casing anelectropositive metal capable of liberating hydrogen when immersed inthe electrolyte, and wherein the gas conveying means conveys liberatedhydrogen from the casing to the second stage of the system.

7. A two stage primary battery system as set forth in 1 claim 6whereinthe second stage includes a second casing 3 having means thereinfor receiving hydrogen conveyed v tosaid second casing, and meansforsupplying an oxygenfrom the first stage, means for supplying anelectrolyte containing gas'to said second casing.

stage primary battery system which comprises, continuously feeding asacrificial metal as ananode into an aqueous electrolyte in the presenceof an inert cathode in a first stage of the systemto thereby generateelectrical energy and liberate hydrogen in such first stage, convey-'ously feeding a sheet of magnesium as an'anodeint'o sea.

water as an electrolyte in the presence of carbon'as a cathode in afirst stage of the system to thereby generate electrical energy andliberate hydrogen gas as a by-product of the electrochemical reaction,conveying the hydrogen gas from the first stage to a second stage of thesystem for use as an anode therein, feeding an oxygen-.

containing gas as a cathode and sea water as an electrolyte into thesecond stage of the system to thereby generate electrical energy in.such second stage, and tapping electrical current from each of the twostages of the system.

4. A method of generating electrical current as set forth in claim 3wherein the electrical energy is tapped from the first and second stagesin series electrically, and wherein the rates of feed of the sheetmagnesium anode and the sea water electrolyte into the first stage,hydrogen gas from the first to the second stage, and oxygen gas and seawater electrolyte into the second stage are proportionately controlledin accordance with current drawn from the system by a load connectedacross terminals thereof.

5. A two stage primary battery system comprising in combination meansforming .a first stage of the electropositive metal reactant-type byreaction of the electropositive metal against an inert cathode in anaqueous electrolyte wherein electrical energy is generated and 8. A,twostage primary battery system as set forth in claim 7 wherein themeans for tapping electrical energy from each of the two stages includesterminals connected for series flow of electrical energy and a loadconnected across such terminals.

9; A two stage primary battery system as set forth in claim S'WhiChincludes means operated responsive to the load connected across theterminals of the system for J proportionality controlling the supply ofelectrolyte and electropositive metal to the first stage, hydrogen gasfrom the'first to the second stage, and electrolyte and oxygencontaininggas to the secondstage.

' 10. A method of generating electr cal energy in a two .stageprimarybattery system which comprises, continuously feeding asacrificial metal as an anode into an aqueous electrolyte in thepresence of an inert cathode 1 ina first stage of the system to therebygenerate electrical energy. and liberate hydrogen in said first stage,conveying the reactant gas from said first stage to a second stage ofthe system for use as an anode therein, and electrochemically combiningthe hydrogen with oxy gen in an electrolyte in the. second stage, tothereby generate electrical energy in said second stage.

11; A two stage primary battery system according to claim 1, ,butfurther characterized by means for removing the product of the reactionof said metal anode and said electrolyte from said first stage of saidsystem whereby the efficiency of said reaction may not be reduced.

References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Apr. 16, 1948

1. A METHOD OF A GENERATING USEFUL ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN A TWO STAGEPRIMARY BATTERY SYSTEM WHICH COMPRISES, REACTING A STRONGLYELECTROPOSITIVE SACRIFICAL METAL ANODE WITH AN AQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE INTHE PRESENCE OF A CHEMICALLY INERT CATHODE IN A FIRST STAGE OF THESYSTEM, TO THEREBY GENERATE ELECTRICAL ENERGY AND LIBERATE A REACTANTGAS, CONVEYING THE HYDROGEN GAS FROM THE FIRST STAGE OF THE SYSTEM TO ASECOND STAGE THEREOF, ELECTROCHEMICALLY REACTING THE HYDROGEN GAS FROMTHE FIRST STAGE AS THE ANODE WITH OXYGEN AS THE CATHODE IN ANELECTROLYTE IN THE SECOND STAGE TO THEREBY GENERATE ELECTRICAL ENERGY INTHE SECOND STAGE, AND TAPPING ELECTRICAL ENERGY FROM EACH OF THE STAGES.